The Maritsa/Evros river, which is a natural barrier on the border between Turkey and Greece, is the main passage for migrants trying to enter Europe irregularly. Between 2000 and 2019, 398 bodies were found on the Greek side of the Evros river. Since then, drowning in the Evros is the leading cause of death among migrants trying to enter Greece.

Pavlos Pavlidis is a Forensic Professor who has been working for the past 20 years examining human remains recovered from the Evros River, which runs along most of the Turkish-Greek border.

“Personal items are the most important clues in our efforts to identify the human remains that have been trapped in the river for a very long time.”

– Pavlos Pavlidis

“With the two containers that were donated by the ICRC, we can preserve the remains for almost two years. This gives us more time to identify them and to provide some closure to the families.”

-Dr Pavlos Pavlidis

In the oldest part of the Sidiro Cemetery, there is a section for human remains recovered from the Evros River. In total there are 253 burials of mostly unidentified remains that were examined in the laboratory of Alexandroupoli Hospital between 2000 and 2014. In addition, 40 remains were buried in the new part of the Sidiro cemetery, dating between 2019 and early 2021.